[FIXED: Forgot to turn tracker off at trailhead; 18.5 km total walk today] Last day! An easy 18 km walk to go. I should be done mid-day which is when I arranged to meet Lisa. It started raining around 3am and here it is at 6am and it’s still steadily falling. Nothing coming down overly hard and little wind but just a steady rain. Looks like I’ll have to pack up camp in the rain. Bugger breakfast as I can’t be bothered to mess with it in the rain. I’ll eat a nut bar on the trail if I get hungry or need energy. My tent isn’t large enough to store my pack inside it so it’s out on the vestibule. Certain to be wet on the outside but the DCF material is waterproof so the inside will be dry. It will be interesting loading it in the rain; I’m going to try to do it from inside the tent. Then my favourite part: taking down and rolling up a wet muddy tent - I can’t wait! 😀😬 Better get to it if I want to be walking in predawn light. Well, I’m 7 km down the trail in less than 90 minutes and making good time. At this pace, I’ll beat Lisa to the terminus so I have better slow up a bit. Yes, packing up my muddy wet tent was not fun; perhaps worse than I feared. So glad that I’m done and I don’t have to deal with the mess straight away. Next week, I’ll clean and perform maintenance on all my gear so it’s in top shape when I want to use it again. But not for a few days... The trail is a bit muddy but the rain stopped at dawn and all I have to deal with is an ongoing drizzle and light wind to my back. Overall, it’s been far better weather than the forecasts first indicated so I’ve even luck. The vegetation looks different today after a few mils of rain. The leaves which had been tightly closed presumably to retain moisture have all spread out and ended up. Its almost like everything bloomed but in a pale green. Anything that lives up here is an amazing survivor. I’m getting close now; 90 minutes to go. I would have been early but I meet a series of SoBo thru-hikers who just started their journey today. Of course, I have to stop and chat with each of them. First was Alex, a young 25 year old who is a member of the Heysen E2E Through Hiking FB Group I belong to. Alex was so keen he had to fly over from NSW and isolate for 14 days before starting his hike. Alex is probably the most ultralight hiker I’ve seen on this trail with a base weight (not counting fuel, food and water) of only 4.5 kg! He uses a custom tiny Palante pack; I never looked seriously at these well regarded packs as I could never get my base weight low enough to get below the max recommended weight for this slick pack. Next is a lady named Sue. She is a veteran long distance hiker, having done the 1000 km Bibbulmun and NZ’s Te Aroroa track (five months to walk both islands!). She’ll have no problems with this hike. Finally I come across Jacque and Sean. They, like others, were planning to walk the PCT in the States but switched to the Heysen when countries locked down due to the pandemic. I only walk another 40 minutes and I see Lisa walking up the creek towards me. I yell out a greeting and grab a hug and a kiss. It’s *so* good to see Lisa again! The final two kilometres pass in a blur as I chat with Lisa. Then we cross the last dry creek bed and we are there - the Heysen Trail Northern Terminus and the end of my ~1200 km journey. So how did it feel to walk the full Heysen Trail two consecutive years running? Bloody awesome! If anything, I enjoyed it even more the second time around. South Australia is beautiful and there is no better way to appreciate it than to walk across it on foot. Will I do walk the Heysen a third time? Well, if borders open up there are adventures to be had elsewhere. However, never say never and I haven’t forgotten that third time is charmed! Happy walking, my friends! Carl /Pilgrim

Hiking/Backpacking

South Australia, Heysen Trail

Pastoral Unincorporated Area, South Australia, Australia

time : Aug 7, 2020 6:56 AM

duration : 4h 34m 44s

distance : 18.4 km

total_ascent : 213 m

highest_point : 571 m

avg_speed : 4.7 km/h

user_id : gstreet

user_firstname : Carl

user_lastname : Greenstreet

[FIXED: Forgot to turn tracker off at trailhead; 18.5 km total walk today] Last day! An easy 18 km walk to go. I should be done mid-day which is when I arranged to meet Lisa. It started raining around 3am and here it is at 6am and it’s still steadily falling. Nothing coming down overly hard and little wind but just a steady rain. Looks like I’ll have to pack up camp in the rain. Bugger breakfast as I can’t be bothered to mess with it in the rain. I’ll eat a nut bar on the trail if I get hungry or need energy. My tent isn’t large enough to store my pack inside it so it’s out on the vestibule. Certain to be wet on the outside but the DCF material is waterproof so the inside will be dry. It will be interesting loading it in the rain; I’m going to try to do it from inside the tent. Then my favourite part: taking down and rolling up a wet muddy tent - I can’t wait! 😀😬 Better get to it if I want to be walking in predawn light. Well, I’m 7 km down the trail in less than 90 minutes and making good time. At this pace, I’ll beat Lisa to the terminus so I have better slow up a bit. Yes, packing up my muddy wet tent was not fun; perhaps worse than I feared. So glad that I’m done and I don’t have to deal with the mess straight away. Next week, I’ll clean and perform maintenance on all my gear so it’s in top shape when I want to use it again. But not for a few days... The trail is a bit muddy but the rain stopped at dawn and all I have to deal with is an ongoing drizzle and light wind to my back. Overall, it’s been far better weather than the forecasts first indicated so I’ve even luck. The vegetation looks different today after a few mils of rain. The leaves which had been tightly closed presumably to retain moisture have all spread out and ended up. Its almost like everything bloomed but in a pale green. Anything that lives up here is an amazing survivor. I’m getting close now; 90 minutes to go. I would have been early but I meet a series of SoBo thru-hikers who just started their journey today. Of course, I have to stop and chat with each of them. First was Alex, a young 25 year old who is a member of the Heysen E2E Through Hiking FB Group I belong to. Alex was so keen he had to fly over from NSW and isolate for 14 days before starting his hike. Alex is probably the most ultralight hiker I’ve seen on this trail with a base weight (not counting fuel, food and water) of only 4.5 kg! He uses a custom tiny Palante pack; I never looked seriously at these well regarded packs as I could never get my base weight low enough to get below the max recommended weight for this slick pack. Next is a lady named Sue. She is a veteran long distance hiker, having done the 1000 km Bibbulmun and NZ’s Te Aroroa track (five months to walk both islands!). She’ll have no problems with this hike. Finally I come across Jacque and Sean. They, like others, were planning to walk the PCT in the States but switched to the Heysen when countries locked down due to the pandemic. I only walk another 40 minutes and I see Lisa walking up the creek towards me. I yell out a greeting and grab a hug and a kiss. It’s *so* good to see Lisa again! The final two kilometres pass in a blur as I chat with Lisa. Then we cross the last dry creek bed and we are there - the Heysen Trail Northern Terminus and the end of my ~1200 km journey. So how did it feel to walk the full Heysen Trail two consecutive years running? Bloody awesome! If anything, I enjoyed it even more the second time around. South Australia is beautiful and there is no better way to appreciate it than to walk across it on foot. Will I do walk the Heysen a third time? Well, if borders open up there are adventures to be had elsewhere. However, never say never and I haven’t forgotten that third time is charmed! Happy walking, my friends! Carl /Pilgrim